Holding Hands

Robeat Boys
Interview on October 11 2013 at Universitetsradioen, Copenhagen University

ENGLISH VERSION

Hostess Nanna Mejer:
You just listened to the electro duo Robeat Boys with the track “Holding Hands” and the duo consists of Tue and Lars. Tonight we have Lars in the studio, and Lars, you guys have existed since the summer of 2012. 

Lars: 
Approximately … 

Nanna Mejer:
That’s a bit more than a year. This single (Holding Hands) and the video was recorded at this year’s Roskilde Festival. 

Lars:
That’s right.

Nanna Mejer:
How did you come up with the idea of the video being recorded at the festival?

Lars: 
Well … as we have done since the beginning of Robeat Boys, we’ve been like; now let’s try this, let’s release this single, now let’s try that, and let’s try to make a video like this, and now let’s make an event. The same thing happened with this track. 
We hooked up with a video guy called Karl  - he has a small production company called “Bifrost Productions”. He asked us if he could produce this video with us, and his idea was to do it in a “silent disco-ish” way. People can see for themselves, but the concept is “a performance where you have to put on headphones”, and it’s only the ones with headphones who can hear what’s actually happening.
Karl asked us to decide which track it should be, and not long before the festival we were jamming in the studio and this track, which you have just heard, was made and suddenly it made sense that “Holding Hands” was the right track to shoot. We loved the way the chill out mood of the track complimented how we felt after of our concert at the Apollo Stage the day before. Everything was nice and the sun was shining. 

Nanna Mejer:
I can definitely recommend the listeners out there and our guests at the Uni Radio to check out the video for the track “Holding Hands”. It looks very entertaining and funny and it looks like a very awesome experience. 

Lars, your project is relatively new. Tell us who you guys are and how it all began.

Lars:
Well, Tue and I have been playing together on and off for many years. We have been backing up a lot of different artist. I’ve been playing bass guitar and Tue has been singing back up vocals for a lot of accomplished people. Then we were asked to produce an EP for a Danish artist called Morten Kjær, An EP that we are very proud of. During that process we often talked about making some kind of electro pop tracks with the right kick and the right danceable vibe. We then started making some tracks for what later became Robeat Boys. Tue has written a huge amount of songs, which he has recorded with one microphone and a guitar or piano. I asked him to send some of those sketches, and then I made some beats and tried out some basses and suddenly some of the tracks started to make sense. Quickly after that the first gig was booked … and now we’re here and have already played at Roskilde Festival.

Nanna Mejer:
Yeah and clearly it made so much sense that you guys were booked at Roskilde Festival 2013. How did that happen?

Lars: 
We still don’t know exactly how. But that e-mail that I guess all musicians are waiting for suddenly hit our Robeat Boys inbox: “Hi Tue and Lars, how would you like to play at the Apollo Stage, monday at Roskilde Festival?” 
I quickly called Tue … and at first he didn’t pick up the phone. I then called one more time and finally he picked it up and told me that he was rehearsing with some other band and I just casually told him that we were booked to play at Roskilde Festival. And then Tue just screamed. [Laughing]. That was how it happened.

Host Frederik Kyhn:
I was at your concert and what I remembered was that that concert had an awesome vibe that we would have loved to have here tonight. Tonight we have opened our doors for people to come and look how we run the radio station. However Tue did something with his arm so we weren’t able to do an actual showcase with you. 
Speaking of your setup, when you hear the new single (“Holding Hands”), you definitely hear pop music elements, but besides from that your music isn’t that conventional guitar/folk/singersongwriter genre. Why did you choose to explore the more electronic genre?

Lars:
As I explained, Tue and I have been playing in many constellations and many large constellations. You know where you have to rent a whole bus for transporting everybody. And this idea of being a duo suddenly made a whole lot of sense. You know, just a station car and we have room for everything. And that’s why we were hooked on the idea of making electronic music in this constellation. 
Besides from Tue’s vocal and effects, I have the beats and basses in my computer, so everything just made sense.


Frederik Kyhn:
And one thing you notice when you hear this new single is Tue’s vocal, which has been distorted or something? What did you do to make his vocal sound more … robotish?

Lars:
It’s kind of you of saying “you“. It’s actually Tue himself doing everything live. The listeners can maybe imagine a guitarist with the worlds largest pedal board with every effect you could possible imagine, which all are connected to Tue’s vocals. This means that Tue can record and sample himself, he can manipulate his voice as he does very much in this track. He can pitch or stretch every line, so everything is made live. He has all kinds of possibilities to manipulate his own voice.

Frederik Kyhn:
So if one should compare it to a more regular setup, you would be the guitarist and Tue the lead singer? 

Lars:
Right, that’s a simple way of looking at it. [Laughing]

Frederik Kyhn:
Lars, we’re about to move on, but thanks for dropping by the studio. If people out there want to hear some more Robeat Boys where will you be playing?

Lars:
Well, at this moment we haven’t got anything booked. The thing is that Tue just got his shoulder operated, which is also why he’s not here tonight. Therefore we haven’t been super active with booking gigs at this moment, however we have some super awesome projects coming up. People can look forward to new singles, new videoes and events. You just have to follow us online. We have our main page on facebook (facebook.com/robeatboys), and besides from that people can find us on almost all other social media platforms. And of cause we have our tracks released on all the different online shops (iTunes, Spotify, Wimp etc.)
	
Frederik Kyhn:
Yeah and you can hear your new single “Holding Hands” many different places online. Lars, thanks for coming.

Lars:
Cheers. 


Robeat Boys Interview @ Copenhagen University Radio

Never Take You Back - VIDEO RELEASE MARCH 24

Into the Fire

Never Take You Back

One Good Man

New Beginning or the End

Jump (Polypotion remix)

Produced by Robeat Boys.
Mastered by Brian Mørk Hansen.

Peace Of Mind

Produced by Robeat Boys.
Mastered by Brian Mørk Hansen.

ROBEAT

Popular tracks